Bowser
, Mario, Peach, Bowser Jr., Koopalings, Wario (occasionally), Luigi (occasionally) |aliases=Pesky Plumber |relations=Koopalings (children), Bowser Jr. (son) }} Bowser (Japanese: 大魔王クッパ ) is the main antagonist of the and the King of the . He has repeatedly kidnapped or attempted to kidnap Princess Peach and take over the Mushroom Kingdom. He has on other occasions attempted to conquer the entire , as well as the . Despite his villainous nature, he has occasionally helped the heroes of the Mushroom Kingdom against common threats and participates with them in their numerous sporting events in spin-off games. Since his debut, Bowser has been in nearly every Mario game, including the main series, spin-offs, and crossovers. Due to his role as the primary villain of the Mario series, he is mostly the final or penultimate boss in his appearances, if not as the main antagonist (an example being ). In the Mario RPGs, Bowser is generally cast as an anti-hero or a minor villain, with the exception of , , and . Creation and Development Bowser was created by Wikipedia:Shigeru Miyamoto as the villain of Super Mario Bros. Miyamoto stated that they considered naming him either Kuppa(국밥), Yukke(육회), or Bibinba(비빔밥), which are all Korean dishes as they are known in Japanese. At the end, Kuppa was chosen. For the later North American release of the game, which also introduced the anglicized spelling Koopa, the character was renamed Bowser. During the development of Super Mario Bros., Miyamoto considered asking a manga artist or illustrator to do the art for the game. However, time was running short, so he drew the game's original box-art himself. This artwork included a depiction of Bowser that is significantly different than later designs, the most obvious anomalies being his grey-blue skin and lack of horns. For the character's appearance, Miyamoto drew inspiration from an anime film adaptation of the Chinese novel Journey to the West, renamed Alakazam the Great during the film's American localization. He liked the film's main antagonist Gyū-Maō (lit. "Ox Demon King," King Gruesome in the dub), so loosely based Bowser on an ox as a homage. Wikipedia:Yoichi Kotabe, an animation artist, later joined Nintendo and was asked to do new illustrations for the Mario series. His only reference was the package illustration for Super Mario Bros., so Kotabe asked Miyamoto many questions on how to draw the characters. However, designing Bowser caused problems, since Miyamoto hadn't drawn him often. He brought up that he liked the Ox King from the film, and this was how he imagined Bowser, but Nintendo designer Wikipedia:Takashi Tezuka pointed out that Bowser should be a turtle. Through their discussions, Bowser's appearance gradually came together. Since he was now in the turtle family with the Koopa Troopas, they partly based Bowser's new appearance on them. Finally, the new design was created, and Miyamoto congratulated himself by saying "Wow, I can really make Bowser look cool now!" Appearances Mario Kart: Mega Mash-Up Bowser returns as a default character. He is a large racer and his karts and bikes will follow a green and gold (sometimes also orangey red) colour scheme. He will do the following to each stat in whatever kart or bike he rides: *'Speed:' +2 *'Weight:' +4 *'Acceleration:' +0 *'Handling:' +0 Mario Kart NX As with all Mario Kart games, Bowser makes an appearance in Mario Kart NX as a default racer. He is classified as a "Heavy" racer, and is fittingly one of the heaviest racers in the game. Gallery BowserWii.png SSB4U3D Bowser.png MP10Bowser.png Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Nintendo Characters